With the bombshell of being diagnosed with high blood pressure and immediately placed on to an anti-hypertensive, I needed a hill day to either chill out or die. I was initially going to head North to the Munros but this would necessitate a 4-hour drive either way and a 6-hour trek - a long day and I was conscious of the exertion. Thus, I sped North on the A9 and decided on this 25km round trip with approx. 700m ascent. It had been 4.5 years since I'd been down here, when Graeme and I did An Dun on my 40th - bit of a cold and miserable day but once the summit had been in the bag, we decided to exit. I was going light and did the occasional run with walking, which meant I reached Sronphadruig lodge after an hour. Once over the lip of the loch, it was a lovely if cold meander along the Gaick pass to the end of the loch.
I dipped my toes in the river outlet and nipped across the end of the loch. Once across, the walking poles were out and it was a steep old pad up the right of the gully. The views were just getting better and better.
Eventually, I reached the plateau and the view down Loch an Duin were absolutely immense. Although my heart rate hit 170 bpm, I felt comfortable and began the last km over towards the summit.
The summit cairn was a tiddler but the feeling of isolation and being in the wild was supreme - I was exactly 8 miles from the A9 but it felt like another world. Bliss. It was very cold at the top, despite the sunshine and I made my way back down towards the lodge, and eventual walk back out. This was Corbett 112 so I'm into the 2nd half! I ate virtually nothing on this walk/run - burning fat really is possible - a bag of crisps and a Pacer bar with about a litre of water. The wonders of the human body - even one that is blighted!
